The Innovations in Education Fund (IEF), administered by the Office of the Provost, provides support for New School faculty in their work as innovators in the areas of curriculum and pedagogy.  Grants are awarded to faculty on a competitive basis with awardees selected by a committee of faculty from a range of fields and areas of expertise.  Applications are welcomed for projects in the areas of undergraduate, graduate, learning online, and informal or extracurricular education.

For 2009-2010, the IEF will support projects that develop or implement curricular or pedagogical innovation.  Funds may be used to support collaboration with colleagues and/or students within the New School or outside; research; travel; educational media design and production; pilot projects for new curricular and pedagogical approaches; and unique forms of support required by specific innovations.

While faculty are encouraged to apply for any project that fit the criteria above, priority will be given to projects that include one or more of the following features:

• Projects that connect with curricular and pedagogical innovations identified as priorities by the Office of the Provost, which include transdisciplinary teaching and learning, innovative approaches to learning online and/or learning with media, global pedagogies, emergent approaches to undergraduate liberal arts curriculum and pedagogy, emergent “ways of knowing” and the new “forms of knowledge” they are making possible.
• Projects that connect with topical areas identified as university-wide commitments, which include Media, Environmental Studies, International Studies, Urban Studies, Food and Culinary Studies, and the intersection of Design fields with the Social Sciences.
• Collaborative projects that include at least two New School faculty members from different schools and programs.
• Projects that are seeking external funding, or have the potential to receive external funding, for which IEF funds can constitute seed money and/or a partial or full “matching” grant.

Projects can begin as soon as awards are made.  They must be completed no later than June 30, 2010.  For proposals in excess of $10,000, please contact Elizabeth Ellsworth, Associate Provost for Curriculum and Learning, ellswore@newschool.edu to set up an informal conversation about your project before submitting your proposal.  The review of applications and selection of awardees will be made by a university-wide faculty selection committee.  Recipients will be asked to make a presentation of the results of their project to the university community upon completion.

Eligibility

Full-time faculty, and part-time faculty who are at least post-probationary (those who have, through the Spring 2009 semester, completed at least five semesters of teaching since the implementation of the ACT-UAW contract), are eligible to apply.

Application Process

Click here for the Application Form. An initial review of applications will establish a group of finalists who may be asked for more detailed information on their projects.  For applications submitted by teams of faculty, one person must be identified as the principal contact person.

Deadlines